1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alkaline earth metal-complexed metal bisamides of the formula (I), to a process for preparation thereof and to the use thereof for metallation of aromatics, heteroaromatics, alkenes, alkynes and other organic compounds having activated C—H bonds.

2. Description of Related Art
The preparation of aromatic and heteroaromatic molecules is of great significance because of the high biological potency thereof. Consequently, these structural elements are constituents of many active pharmaceutical and agrochemical ingredients. Direct metallation has become established as an excellent tool for functionalization of aromatics, heteroaromatics and other organic compounds having activated C—H bonds.
For this purpose, predominantly lithium alkyls or lithium amides have been used to date as bases.
As an alternative, efficient bases have been developed for magnesiation and zincation of aromatics and heteroaromatics. Zinc amide or magnesium amide bases, for example Mg-TMP and Zn-TMP (TMP=2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidyl), complexed with lithium chloride, for example TMPMgCl.LiCl, TMPZnCl.LiCl, TMP2Zn.2MgCl2.2LiCl, are described in WO 2010/092096 and WO 2008/138946 as versatile metallating reagents. They have high kinetic basicity coupled with very good chemo- and regioselectivities. In addition, the zinc amide bases can be stored under protective gas as solutions in THF for weeks, without losing activity.
For synthesis of the bases, typically amines, for example TMP, are lithiated with equimolar amounts of butyllithium. Owing to the high cost of butyllithium, the bases are too expensive for a multitude of industrial syntheses. There is therefore an urgent need for a favourable route to these bases, dispensing with the use of expensive butyllithium.